Stenting

Stenting is a catheter based procedure that opens up blockages in arteries and veins. Similar to an angioplasty, we insert a catheter across a blockage and then deploy a stent within the vessel.

A stent is a thin metal wire mesh cylinder that will prop the artery open like scaffolding. The decision to use angioplasty or stenting, or both, depends on several factors that we will explain to you.

Venous Thrombolysis and Stenting

This is a catheter based, minimally invasive method of accelerating clot removal. It requires insertion of a catheter into a vein “below” the clot and the use of specialty catheters.

These catheters can either inject clot-busting drugs into the clot, break up the clot with wires, ultrasound waves, or small jets of saline, or use suction to extract the clot. We want to clear the large veins of the thigh and pelvis of clot that can lead to post-thrombotic syndrome.

Occasionally we discover an obstruction that contributed to the clot within the vein or compressing the vein that can’t be removed. In these cases stents are commonly used to reopen the vein and keep that area from causing further problems.